Amazon launches Prime Music free streaming music service for Prime members

Amazon has just launched Prime Music, a new service that gives Prime customers free access to over 1 million songs, adding one more item to the growing list of perks that come with Amazon Prime membership. The service will feel right at home for those familiar with its video counterpart, Prime Instant Video. Browsing Amazon’s music selection, whether on their website or in their apps, has not changed. What has changed is the addition of over 1 million of those little “Prime” corner banners we all love and the $0.00 price that comes with them.

Amazon is rebranding the Amazon MP3 store and the Amazon Cloud Player into one name: Amazon Music. This unification is a welcomed simplification of their offerings, and probably the main reason why bringing Cloud Player to the Fire TV has been delayed. Amazon’s existing music app, Amazon MP3, will be renamed to Amazon Music and will include the new Prime Music service baked in. Unfortunately, since the Fire TV does not have the Amazon MP3 app, Prime Music will not be available on the Fire TV at launch. We’re sure that will change in the coming weeks. With the upcoming release of Amazon’s first smartphone, we expect to see a software update for the Fire TV which should include Amazon Music.

Amazon has recruited a team of music experts to curate hundreds of playlists across all genres. In addition to your standard “best of” compilations, Prime Playlists will also include collections tailored for a specific mood or personality. You’ll be happy to hear that playing or adding a playlist does not automatically add the included songs to your library. They will only appear in your library if you want them to.

Over 1 million songs is great, but Amazon has a long way to go before rivaling the likes of Spotify and Rdio which each boast 20 million tracks. They have yet to strike a deal with Universal Music Group, the largest music company in the world, whose library is missing from Prime Music entirely. Just as Prime Instant Video’s offerings have improved over time, we’re sure the same will be for Prime Music.